The Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) activated its Disaster Assistance Programme (CDAP), during the months of July and August 2024, to support regional utilities that suffered significant damage to their Transmission and Distribution (T&D) infrastructure due to the passage of Hurricane Beryl which impacted the Caribbean from July 1-4, 2024.
The CARILEC Secretariat, in close collaboration with member utilities as well as private contractors, coordinated the deployment of resources, including 100 lineworkers, equipment, and material to Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and most recently, Jamaica, to support the electric utilities with rebuilding their T&D networks and restoring electricity to their customers.
Hurricane Beryl was the earliest hurricane to reach category five intensity in the Atlantic Ocean for the 2024 Hurricane Season, causing widespread devastation across the Caribbean.
CARILEC’s Executive Director, Dr. Cletus Bertin, explained that: “CDAP is built on the premise of regional collaboration and mutual assistance. Our member utilities contribute to a fund which is activated when a Utility is impacted by a disaster, and requests assistance to restore electricity supply and rebuild damaged T&D infrastructure. Under CDAP, assistance is most commonly provided in the form of manpower assistance. We work with member utilities and private contractors who select Lineworkers to deploy to affected utilities to aid in the restoration of electricity supply.”
CDAP deployed 36 lineworkers to the Grenada Electricity Services Ltd., 48 to the Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd. and 8 to the Saint Vincent Electricity Services Ltd. The Lineworkers deployed hail from utilities and private contractors across the region, including Antigua Public Utilities Authority, Barbados Light & Power Company Ltd, Belize Electricity Limited, British Virgin Islands Electricity Corporation, Caribbean Utilities Company/Cayman Islands, Dominica Electricity Services, Fortis TCI Limited/Turks & Caicos Islands, Nevis Electricity Company, Saint Kitts Electricity Company, St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, the Trinidad & Tobago Electricity Commission, and private contractors: Islandwide Electrical and Kings Electrical based in Saint Lucia.
CARILEC’s Disaster Assistance Programme has been in operation for over 20 years, with its first deployment in 2003. Many of the deployed Lineworkers would have benefitted from training under the CDAP Expansion Programme, designed to prepare them to support the quick, safe and efficient restoration of electricity supply. CARILEC also regularly hosts a series of technical training exercises and the annual Lineworkers Symposium and Rodeo to support the ongoing capacity building of personnel who are on the ‘front line’ of electricity service supply across the region.
About CARILEC:
The Caribbean Electric Utility Service Corporation (CARILEC) is an Association of over one hundred and twenty (120) energy solution providers and other stakeholders operating in the electricity industry in the Caribbean. CARILEC was established in 1989 with nine (9) members as part of an Electric Utilities modernization project funded by USAID. CARILEC’s mandate is to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, capacity building, business development, advocacy, and mutual assistance.
